Transcript
Every time I come to Coast Bible Church, the assignment gets tougher. And this time he’s given me the Granddaddy of all my assignments. I have to cover the book of Romans in four nights. Can you believe it?
I will do my best, as Arch always did in my classroom. Whether I will be as successful as he used to be, I’m not sure of that. But we’re going to make an effort at it.
I have decided to divide my study of the book of Romans into basically three units. Tomorrow night we will cover chapters one through four. On Tuesday night we want to cover chapters five through eight. And then on Wednesday night we want to cover chapters nine through eleven and say a few brief words, perhaps, about the concluding chapters.
By covering chapters one through eleven, we will have covered the body of the book and the major themes that the epistle unfolds.
My objective for tonight is very modest. I want simply to introduce you to the theme statements of the book of Romans. And I want you to go out of the auditorium tonight understanding the theme of the book of Romans.
In order to do that, and most of you could probably already turn to the verses, let’s turn to the thematic statement of the book of Romans found in Romans chapter one, verses sixteen and seventeen. Romans 1:16 and 17. These are very familiar verses indeed.
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’
Now I strongly suspect that although these verses are extremely familiar to most of you, if you were to be called upon to explain them, you would be, like I was for many, many years, highly likely to get them wrong. We are so used to these verses that we have very rarely stopped to think exactly what they mean in the light of the entire book of Romans.
And we would probably jump to a conclusion that might not be right. And I say this because I did that for many, many years. And that was partly because I always heard them presented in a certain way. And it was really the discovery of what these theme verses were really about that opened up the book of Romans to me.
Now in order to appreciate the theme verses, we should look at a verse that is found in chapter five. And so before I even make a comment on the thematic statements here, I invite your attention to Romans chapter five, verses nine and ten.
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
It literally happened with me that these verses opened up not only the thematic statement of the book of Romans, but also, I think, the epistle as a whole. So we’re going to begin with Romans 5:9.
Now understand that up toward the top of the overhead, it’s not always quite as clear as in other locations. Can you see this? That’s good. Alright.
There is one basic observation that we need to make about Romans 5:9. And that is that the idea of justification and the idea of salvation are distinguished. That is the most obvious fact about these verses.
Having been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath. It is clear that the first statement about justification belongs to the past. We have now been justified. That is, we are now in the state of having been justified. And the statement about salvation is assigned to the future relative to the preceding statement.
If we thought that in the book of Romans justification and salvation were equivalent, we were mistaken. And it is the realization that in the book of Romans justification is one thing and salvation is another that gets us into the very heart and core of this vital and important epistle.
Notice that it is said, in connection with salvation, we shall be saved from wrath. Now when we first read this, and when most people first read it, they probably say to themselves the wrath that is referred to here is the wrath of eternal judgment. That’s a conclusion that many people have leaped to.
However, and this is something that you can test for yourself, and if you find what I’m going to say here sometime during the course of the week please bring me the passage, you can take a concordance and you can look for the word “anger” or for the word “wrath” throughout the concordance. And I’m suggesting to you, you will not find a single place in the New Testament where “anger” or “wrath” refers to eternal judgment or to eternal damnation.
Look in a concordance and see if you can find any place in the New Testament where the word “anger” or “wrath” clearly refers to eternal judgment. Now eternal judgment of course occurs for the unsaved person at the Great White Throne, right? And if you are appearing in court, if you go down to the municipal court or the state courts of the state of California and you stand before a judge and his face is flushed with anger and his eyes are flashing, do you expect to get a fair hearing from the judge who is standing or sitting before you? I think not.
One of the last things we would want to confront is an angry judge. Now it is true that the book of Revelation says that from the face of Him who sat on the throne, which of course is the Lord Jesus Christ, the heavens and the earth fled away. But there’s no suggestion, either there or anywhere else, that the judge is angry at the people standing before Him.
What happens at the Great White Throne is a fair and impartial judgment of every single individual who appears before that throne. So I want to emphasize for you that despite the ease and frequency with which we identify wrath and eternal judgment, that identification is really not supported in the New Testament.
So the question is raised, “What wrath is this?” We shall be saved from wrath. But from what wrath shall we be saved? I want to suggest to you that the most logical place to go is back to the very first place in the epistle to the Romans where the word “wrath” is mentioned, which, as indicated here, is in chapter one, verse 18, which immediately follows what verses? Sixteen and seventeen.
Obvious observation, but sixteen and seventeen are the thematic verses that we just read, right? And immediately after those verses we have the first reference in the book of Romans to wrath. So now I’m going to ask you to flip back to chapter one and to verse 18. This is a passage we need to read. We may be somewhat familiar with it. But it’s important for the passage to have its impact on us at this point in time.
So let’s read it. Follow me if you will. Are you all awake? All right. Be careful. Be sure I read it as it is found in the text.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse.
Because although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed beasts and creeping things.
Therefore, verse 24, “Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature. Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.”
This is a description of evil in Paul’s day and it’s very, very contemporary as you recognize. “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting; being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.”
This describes, of course, man’s inexcusable descent into idolatry. Having the testimony to the Creator God before their eyes, they turn away from the Creator God and they make their own gods who are images of man, of animals and even of snakes.
This is much more than a simple indictment of the wickedness of mankind. This is an expression of the wrath of God against a race of people who have turned away from their Creator. And as a result of their rejection of their Creator, they are successively turned over to their own depravity, to their own wickedness, to their own debased mind and behavior.
So if we ask what is the wrath of God that is revealed from heaven against the unrighteousness and ungodliness of men, the answer to that question is, it is the wrath that is seen in the descent of mankind into the very depths of depravity and evil.
We are seeing that of course happening in our own country, a country that at least on the surface once acknowledged God and acknowledged that liberty came from God. And we are seeing a country that is turning away from that and in the process is descending into the pit which is described in these verses. This is the wrath of God against the unrighteousness and ungodliness of men.
So I want to suggest to you that the logical reference of 5:9, when it speaks of being saved, is to the wrath that has been extensively described in chapter one.
To summarize what we have here in Romans 5:9 we discover that justification and salvation are two distinct considerations for Paul. We also discover that salvation is salvation from wrath and not from eternal judgment, but from the wrath that is currently revealed against the unrighteousness of men.
What would that kind of salvation consist in? Well, obviously it would consist in escaping the depravity, escaping the debased lifestyle and mental outlook of the world around us. That would be what this salvation would necessarily refer to.
Now let’s take our trip back to Romans one, shall we? We’re already there with 1:18. But from 5:9 we return to the thematic statements of Romans 1:16 and 17.
Please notice, as we’ve already pointed out, the connection of salvation that unites 5:9 with Romans 1:16 and 17. Let me ask you, if you’ve never heard this preached from this pulpit, although Arch may well have preached this, when you read the statement, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God to salvation,” did you think of that in terms of salvation from hell? Or did you think of it in terms of salvation from wrath? Obviously those would be two different considerations.
You will be interested to know that the word salvation that is used here in 1:16, or the reference to salvation that we have here in 1:16, there is no further reference to salvation in the book of Romans till we get to 5:9. Did you realize that? That the great chapters on justification, particularly Romans three and four, do not contain any reference at all to salvation?
Therefore we must conclude that Paul knew what he was doing when he was writing there, and that the salvation that he is referring to in Romans 1:16 is not justification, but the salvation that is mentioned and distinguished from justification in Romans 5:9.
We’ve already mentioned that the salvation in Romans 5:9 is salvation from wrath, and that 5:9 points us back to the extended discussion of wrath in 1:18. So we may conclude that Romans is not talking about salvation from hell, but salvation from wrath.
What does this mean therefore for the familiar phrase, “it is the power of God for salvation”? Very simply, God gives every believer the power to escape His present wrath. Let me repeat that. “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God for salvation.” Not salvation from hell but salvation from wrath.
The gospel contains within itself the power that the believer needs to escape the present wrath of God. Let’s get down to the practical level here. Suppose someone is a homosexual. We read how that was part of the manifestation of the wrath of God as described in 1:18 to 32.
One question that is sometimes asked is, “Can a homosexual change?” Can he change his personal orientation? There have been efforts, of course as you know, to trace homosexuality to genetic inheritance. The evidence for this is not by any means very good. But the question still remains, since God condemns homosexuality, is it possible for a homosexual to change his behavior?
Answer: the gospel contains the power that he needs to do that. Suppose a man is habitually sexually immoral, not homosexual, but simply immoral, and that is a kind of addiction for that person. Can such a person escape from his sexual addiction, from his immoral practices and behavior?
Answer is, the gospel contains the power of God for him to escape from that. It does not matter what form the present wrath of God has taken in the life of an individual. The gospel contains the power to release and deliver and save that man from that manifestation of God’s wrath.
Now as far as we know, in all likelihood the book of Romans was written from the city of Corinth. And you may or may not know this but Corinth widely had a reputation for debased lifestyles and for heavy going immorality. In fact a word had entered the Greek language, to “corinthianize.” And to corinthianize was to behave immorally. It was a word that had entered the language because of the reputation of Corinth for debased living.
So when Paul, writing the epistle to the Romans, looked out on the city from which he was apparently writing, he saw a city that was a prime example of the wrath of God. He saw in the corruption and depravity that existed in Corinth a manifestation of God’s anger against the unrighteousness and ungodliness of men.
But he is able to say I am very proud of the gospel that I preach. I am very proud of it. I am not ashamed of this gospel one bit because in this gospel is contained the power of God to every believer to escape, to be saved from, a debauched and debased lifestyle, to be saved from the wrath of God.
So I hope that that clarifies a little bit what Paul has in mind in verse 16 of chapter one. We are talking about what the gospel contains intrinsically: the power of God to deliver men from immorality. “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.” Why? You notice a little word “for” there? “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for,” “because.”
If you ask Paul, “Why are you not ashamed of the gospel?” Paul would say, because in it is the power of God for salvation.
Now the next question we might ask is, why does the gospel contain the power of God for salvation? “I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes.” Why is that true? The answer is in verse 17.
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’
The reason the gospel contains the power of God to deliver men from wrath is because in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. We must pause here to say, what does he mean by that? What is the righteousness of God that is revealed in the gospel?
The answer is certainly made clear to us in chapter three, verses twenty-one to twenty-four. Would you just look over at those verses please? Let’s begin our reading however at verse 19 of chapter three.
Now we know that whatever the law says it says to those who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
Here is the flat and unambiguous statement that Paul is making, that under the law and by the deeds of the law or by trying to keep the law no one, plus no one, plus no one will ever be justified. Instead, the law brings all mankind under guilt.
So what is man’s resource? “But now the righteousness of God,” the phrase that we encounter in Romans 1:17, “the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God which is through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all who believe. So there is no difference.
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation by His blood through faith to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed.”
In the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed. What is the righteousness of God? It is God’s own righteousness. But it is a righteousness that God imparts to everyone who puts faith in His Son’s name. To everyone who believes in Jesus Christ, God gives His perfect, complete righteousness.
Notice therefore that we can now begin to enter into the connection that we noticed in 5:9. “Having been justified by His blood,” that is having received the righteousness of God that is granted to people who believe, having received that righteousness, “we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
Notice the very close connection here. What is implied is clearly this. That no one can be saved from the present wrath of God who is not first justified. Let me repeat that. Nobody can be saved from the present wrath of God who is not first justified or who does not first receive the righteousness of God which is bestowed on every believer.
Why is that true? Glance back at chapter one and verse 18 again. “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.” Why does God reveal His wrath from heaven? Why does God allow men to descend into the pits of depravity?
Answer: Because God’s wrath is revealed against the unrighteousness of men. Now listen. If God’s wrath is against those who are unrighteous, how can those who are unrighteous ever be saved from that wrath? Answer: By becoming righteous.
First, obviously, they can’t do it by the works of the law. And therefore the only righteousness that is available to them is the righteousness of God. And God’s first step in delivering men and women from His present wrath is to offer them His perfect righteousness by faith.
And it is not until a person has received the righteousness of God, which is by faith, it is not until then that they can be saved from His present wrath. Is that point clear? That’s a very critical point.
Not until the righteousness of God is bestowed upon an individual by faith, and not until then can he be delivered from God’s wrath because God’s wrath is against unrighteous people. But if I have been justified by faith I am now righteous in the sight of God. And isn’t it reasonable for me therefore to expect Him also to deliver me from His wrath? Of course that is reasonable. That is right for me to expect that.
So “having been justified by His blood we shall be saved from wrath through Him.”
What did I do? One more look at Romans 1:16 and 17. The gospel is God’s power to salvation, understand salvation from wrath, because it discloses the righteousness of God which is given to every believer.
And here, by way of parenthesis, I want to suggest to you, I’m not the only one who has made this suggestion and it’s certainly not original with me, that the famous statement that is quoted in Romans chapter one, verse 17, “the just shall live by faith,” ought to be translated, “the one who is just by faith shall live.” The one who is just by faith shall live.
Let me give you quickly some simple statistics that will help to reinforce this. In the book of Romans the words “to live” and the word “life” occur only two times in Romans one to four covering the justification section. And in the Christian life section, chapters five through eight, the words occur twelve times.
Got that first picture? You don’t need to have the figures down or anything like that. If you take the words “to live” or “life” and you look through Romans one to four, you only find them two times. One of them is in the verse that we’re looking at. If you take the words “to live” or “life” and look for them in Romans five through eight, you’ll find them twelve times.
Now here’s another statistic. The words “to believe,” that is the verb “believe,” in Romans three and four alone, the great justification chapters, the words “to believe” occur eight times. In Romans six through eight, the Christian life section, it only occurs once.
How about the word “faith”? In chapters three and four of Romans the word “faith” occurs nineteen times. And in chapters six through eight, the Christian life section, two times, both of them are in chapter five, the first two verses. Outside of that we get no reference to the word “faith” in Romans six through eight.
What is the point that I am making? Very simple. In Romans the word “faith” is connected with his discussion of justification. You can theologically connect it with Christian living. And there are Pauline passages that do connect it that way, but not in Romans. In Romans the word “faith” is connected to justification. And the word “life” is connected with the Christian life section.
In Romans the word “faith” is connected to justification. In Romans the words “to live” or “life” are connected with the Christian life section. And that is one very good reason, not the only reason, for understanding that the word “faith” in Romans 1:17 is connected with the idea of justification and not with the idea of living. The one who is just by faith shall live.
Now it is interesting, since Paul was of course a Hebrew, that in Hebrew the verb “to live” sometimes comes very close to meaning to survive alive or to be saved alive. In fact in a couple of the Hebrew stems, as they are called, the Hebrew word “to live” means to save alive or to preserve alive.
So from the standpoint of the Hebrew thinker the idea of living and salvation are much more closely united than they are to us who think in English. Following what I’m saying? In English it sounds like living and salvation are kind of disparate, different themes. But to the Hebrew thinker the two themes were closely united because the word “live” could express more or less the same idea.
In Habakkuk 2:4, from which this famous statement is taken, it seems to me that that’s exactly the meaning of the word “lived” there. Habakkuk, if you remember, was worried about the fact that the Babylonians were being used as an instrument of judgment, an instrument of God’s wrath against the nation of Israel. And God answers him on that.
And one of the things that God suggests is that the one who is just by faith can survive the experience of the wrath. He can be preserved alive. And I think that Paul was drawing that kind of concept of Habakkuk 2:4 into his thematic statement.
So what does he do? First of all he discusses how a man can be just by faith. That is, he discusses the great doctrine of justification by faith. We look at that doctrine tomorrow night the Lord willing as we study chapters one, two, three, and four.
Having established that one can be just by faith, now he wants to tell us that we can live, that we can be saved from the present wrath that is upon sinful men all around us. The one who is just by faith shall be saved, shall live. And that’s the great Christian life section, Romans chapter five through eight, which the Lord willing we hope to look at on Tuesday night.
Have you got it? Let me summarize it and then open it for questions. In the thematic statement of the book of Romans the Apostle Paul is telling us that he is not ashamed of the gospel he preaches. The reason he is not ashamed of the gospel he preaches is because that gospel has the power to save men from the depths of sin and to transform their lives and to deliver them from the wrath of God.
Why is it able to do that? It is able to do that because in the gospel is revealed how a man may be righteous in the sight of God. Since the wrath of God is conveyed against those who are unrighteous, God offers to unrighteous man a righteousness that is freely bestowed and received by simple faith.
And those who do receive that gospel, who do receive that righteousness, who therefore become just by faith, can live. They can be saved from wrath through Him.
Let me conclude by pointing you back to Romans chapter five, verse ten, which we didn’t look at. But notice how this is simply a restatement of the truth that we have just discussed.
For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more having been reconciled we shall be saved by His life.
And when we get into Romans five through eight we will discover that the secret to living is our identification with the life of Jesus Christ. We have died in Him. We have been raised in Him. We are dead to sin. And we are alive to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Okay, questions? Right back there. Am I supposed to repeat these questions, Arch? Okay, I think so.
Let me see if I can repeat the question there. In the light of the things that are said, for example in First John about walking in the light in fellowship and so on, how does the gospel save people from these depraving and enslaving habits?
Let me point out that what we have not said is that the gospel instantaneously and automatically saves people from this. But the power of God is contained in the gospel so that this may be realized.
Now what we will discover in Romans five, six, seven, and eight is that this process is not without its potential complications. So Romans seven intrudes here where Paul discovers that it’s not so easy to get this done as he might have thought. And so there is a process involved.
But the point is that at the moment that we are saved all of the power that is needed for this is bestowed upon us. Now our problem and our task is to draw upon that power effectively. Of course the Apostle Peter says the same thing. You remember in Second Peter chapter one? “Even as His eternal power has bestowed upon us all things that pertain to life and godliness.”
So through the knowledge of Him who called you, through His glory and virtue, you’ve got everything you need. But he says now “I want you to add to your faith this, and add to your virtue this,” and so on down the list. So the point is the potential is there, the power is there. The realization of this power is a process which involves the Johannine statements as much as any other statement of the Scripture.
Go ahead. Yeah, yeah. He’s a lot easier on his own kids than on the kids of the neighbor next door. Alright, I don’t really think He is. In fact one may argue that He’s more severe because He chastens. “Whom the Lord loves He chastens and scourges every son whom He receives.” So you know the ultimate punishment of the unsaved man is still ahead of him. And so God is trying to work with His own children to bring them out of this.
What we’re really saying here is something like this. Suppose a gay person comes to an evangelist and they say something like this, “If I get saved, can God change me?” And the evangelist should be able to say, “If you get saved God can change you.” But what the evangelist should not say is, “God will automatically change you no matter what you do,” or that “God will let you go your own way after you get saved and won’t stretch out His hand of chastisement.”
But this is the positive part of it. There isn’t any problem, any moral and spiritual problem that a person brings into the Christian life that cannot be resolved by the power that God bestows on us from the very beginning.
Now this is reasonable if we think of this as an illustration as illustrated in human birth. When you give birth to a child, when you become a parent, all of the potentials that the child has are already there. But the child has to grow and develop those potentials. And there is always the danger and possibility that potentials bestowed at birth may not ever be developed.
So for example a man or a boy or a girl has tremendous musical ability. This is genetically imparted to them. Will they necessarily become musicians? Not necessarily. But can they become musicians? Yes, very accomplished musicians, if they draw upon all the potentials that God has bestowed on that child at birth. That’s an analogy with what we’re saying here.
That in the moment I believe the gospel all of the potentials for God... Well, that’s a very good question. And Arch always asked me these questions. That you know they we use the theological terms and he’s making me explain them for my own benefit.
One thing I always liked about Dr. Charles Ryrie is he wrote object lessons for kids. That’s one of the things that made him a good theologian. He could bring it all down to the kids’ level. So it’s a challenge to me to try to do that. I don’t think I can do it as well as Dr. Ryrie.
But righteousness, the righteousness of God, amounts to this, that God clears us of every charge of sin. “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is He that condemns?” When God imparts His righteousness to you, He is saying I have no charge of any kind against you before My judgment bar, nothing that will bar you from My presence forever, nothing.
Remember Balaam’s prophecy about Israel? He stood up and, much to the displeasure of Balak, he said God has not beheld iniquity in Israel. Well, God saw a lot of iniquity in Israel, but the point was that He had chosen Israel and accepted Israel. And He didn’t see any of that as a bar to His relationship with them.
So when God gives us His righteousness, He is clearing us of every charge. We are as righteous as God Himself is. That’s an amazing thing. And how anybody thinks that they can get that partially by doing right is beyond me. Nobody can be as righteous as God in practical experience. But we can be as righteous as God by justification.
What does justification mean? Well it means declaring us innocent, declaring us righteous, declaring us free of every charge. What could possibly ever condemn us and debar us from the presence of God? This is a grand and wonderful truth it seems to me. And one that is gradually being lost in confusion in the contemporary church.
But when God saves us He clears us of everything past, present, future. Yes, sir? This gentleman right here. How is His wrath manifested if we have not accepted Him?
Well, just watch the life of an unsaved person who doesn’t know God. And notice how they get worse and worse. And as they deteriorate morally, they accumulate all sorts of problems. And the result is that they, you know, it’s like being caught in quicksand. And the more they struggle, the deeper they sink.
So in the Romans 1:18 to the end of the chapter passage, that’s really what’s being described, how God just simply turns men over, turns men over to the vileness and the corruption of their own behavior. He lets them go. That’s His wrath. Instead of stopping them, He lets them go.
The lady right back here. Yes, it will. We can be saved from wrath through Him. But if we turn our backs on the power that God has given us, upon the resources that God has given us, then our experience will continue to be the experience of unsaved people.
But what Paul is going to tell us in Romans five through eight is that a new lifestyle is possible. But it is very clear as we read Romans five through eight that it’s not automatic. It isn’t as some people think, “Okay. I’ve become a Christian and from now on I’m going to live like a Christian.” We all wish that it were like that. But it’s not. That’s not the way it is.
And it’s very clear as you read Romans five through eight that that’s not the way it is, that in fact very large impediments stand in our way because we’re still in the old physical body that we were in the moment before we were saved. And so if I continue to live under the wrath of God, I will continue to experience it. But the point is that I don’t need to, I don’t have to, I can be delivered from that.
Jack. Of the revised mind? Yes, there’s no reason to think otherwise. What the book of Romans calls us to is of course the renewing of our mind, that we may prove that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. But that’s apparently a process and an ongoing process. It can stop. And when it stopped, then a Christian gets out of fellowship with God, decides that they’re not going to go God’s way.
I’ve met a lot of Christians like that. Then all of the consequences that are elaborated in Romans chapter one can be the experience of that Christian. It is amazing how mixed up a Christian can become. It is amazing what depths of depravity a Christian can stoop to while still trying to justify the depravity, by even sometimes theological means.
We had a case in seminary of a doctor who came to the seminary. And he was married. And he fell in love with another woman. And without any biblical grounds whatsoever he divorced his wife and married the other woman. Then he said, however, that the Bible, when it talks about marriage, is talking about spiritual union. And there had never been a spiritual union between him and his wife. And therefore he was not really married to his wife. And he was free to divorce her and marry somebody else.
If that is not a debased mind, I don’t know what is. And that kind of thing can happen. Right here. Then let’s see, if I’m going to, I’m going to go to people that haven’t had questions yet if you don’t mind. And I think Bob down here.
I don’t, only the passage, “now is our salvation nearer than when we believed”. But that would be the only one. All the others it seems to me are references to this kind of salvation here. It is very striking that the word “salvation” does not occur in any justification passage. That’s not under discussion. We’ll be glad to address some of these specific passages when we come to it. But my answer would be that.
And even in the passage that I’ve just quoted, he’s obviously talking about our deliverance from all forms of sin when the Lord comes. Right over here. It is directed toward all unrighteousness and ungodliness of men whoever that might be. But that’s primarily being a non-believer, of course.
Yeah. Yes, the word “wrath” is used as the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. And this refers, it seems to me, to eschatological wrath, to the wrath of the day of the Lord, to the ultimate expression of God’s displeasure with sin. So yes. Paul acknowledges that use of it.
If we ask ourselves the question in Romans 5:9 to which of these references to wrath is Paul likely to be referring, I think the heavy weight falls on the wrath that he has extensively referred to and described in which comes immediately after the theme verse. But Paul of course does have a doctrine that God’s displeasure with sin has a future manifestation in eschatological terms.
I would point out here however that this is still God’s temporal expression of displeasure against sin, it does not refer to eternal damnation, even in the Romans two verse that you correctly quote. Still God’s wrath is confined to time. So there will be a period in which the human race will find the wrath of God intensify to the level of the judgments that occur during the tribulation period. But for the present time the kind of wrath that we actually see in operation is the kind described in 1:18.
In following go ahead with your follow-up question. Well, first of all, I want to say that the word for wrath that we’re dealing with here of course is the Greek word for orge and is the standard Greek word for anger. And I think it would be inappropriate for us to say that God is incapable of holding anger. As a matter of fact when Jesus was here there were times that He was angry and expressed His anger.
But now what we must know about God is that God’s anger is relatively brief compared to the deserts of men, the sinfulness of man and so on. So that God’s orge, His anger, His displeasure is confined to time and is not eternal. I think that’s the point I want to make here.
Eternal judgment is not an expression of His anger, but an expression of His righteous judgment. It is not the judge sitting behind the podium and flushed with anger and whose anger continues throughout all eternity. That’s a false picture of God. But there is such a thing as holding anger. And even the Bible says to us be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down on your anger. That’s the word orge or orgiso.
Oh, there’s a verbal form of it so God is a person and God does have emotions but they’re not uncontrolled emotions as human beings often express. And oftentimes people lose control of their anger and do it very inappropriately. But God never does inappropriate anger nor does He keep His anger forever as the Scripture said.
Yes? That’s very true. And that’s an important thing to say. We’re looking at it from the standpoint of God’s temporary temporal. It’s temporary. But temporal is a better word here. Temporal anger against sin. But as the experience of the unsaved shows, their sin can have eternal consequences. And the same thing is true of Christians and the loss of reward is of eternal consequence, of our failure to live as God has empowered us to live through the gospel and therefore the loss of reward.
It’s not an expression of His anger. It’s an expression of His righteous distribution or withholding of reward to those who have served Him or those who have not served Him appropriately. That’s a very good point. We all always need to keep the appropriate distinctions in mind.
We’re never saying that the sin of man cannot have eternal consequences. We’re just simply saying that what we describe as the wrath or anger of God is confined to time. At least as far as I can see in the New Testament, that’s always true.
I think that’s perfectly true. And I think if you had been talking to the Apostle Paul, he would have been the first to say to you that not all unsaved people experience God’s anger to the same extent or to the same degree, and that insofar as a man may live a relatively moral life, he may escape some of the more depraving consequences of wrath. But nevertheless for all sin, particularly for sin that is repeatedly engaged in, there is some measure of wrath that expresses the displeasure of God with that sin.
It’s someone in asking a question mentioned the fact that God has built us into life and so He has. “He that sowed to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.” That’s a law of life. And if a person is relatively moral and relatively restrained in their life, their experience of God’s wrath will be greatly diminished. But it will not be entirely removed.
We should also keep in mind that we live in a culture that has been impacted by the morality of Christianity. That’s easily forgotten in Western culture today, granted that Western society is deteriorating. Granted the Western society is losing its moral moorings. Nevertheless, as many people pointed out, the foundation of the Western judicial system is a Biblical morality. And there are people who are unsaved which are nevertheless impacted by the morality.
Now this of course was true in Jesus’ day. Not all of the Pharisees were immoral people by a long shot. But they were not saved. And so we do confront that reality. I think that’s a good qualification to throw in there that the measure and degree in which I experienced the wrath of God will depend on the measure and degree of my sin.
But the horrible thing is, for the unsaved person, there are no restraints. The moral person, we’ve all heard cases like this: person lived a moral life for years and years. And suddenly they go wild. They lose their morality. Their whole life is turned upside down. God gives them up, gives them up, gives them up. And that kind of giving up can occur at any time for any individual. Does that help? Good.
No believer can ever lose his salvation, but we’re not talking about that kind of salvation here. We’re talking here about salvation from wrath. That kind of salvation, if you’re all awake here are you not? You’re not going to be confused by this? And if you are, Arch will straighten me out here and get me to define it further.
Salvation from wrath can be lost if I cease to experience my union with the life of Christ. I have to walk with God. I have to let Christ live His life in and through me. As long as I do that, I will not experience wrath. But if I cease to do that then the experience of wrath can overtake me. But salvation from hell is something that can never be lost.
Jack, that’s a great question. But, Jack, may I be permitted to postpone it until Tuesday night when we’ll be covering the Romans five through eight section? That’s exactly what we want to talk about. In fact, I would like to say this. That in my judgment the most extensive treatment of the experience of Christian living is precisely Romans five through eight. And if we can’t answer it from that section of the Bible, we can’t answer it. But I think there are answers but I think that should be developed in connection with those chapters.
Right. Well, that’s a starter. Then you have to apply Romans five through eight. This gentleman right over here. Well, I’m admitting along with the gentleman over here that Paul does talk about a day of wrath that is future. He does refer to it in Romans chapter two the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. And then he goes into a little detail about what that will be like.
And the question therefore that we raise in connection with First Thessalonians is, what wrath is referred to here in this particular epistle. And I think the telltale clue to this is found in First Thessalonians 1:10. We turn to God from idols to wait to serve the living and true God and to wait for His Son from heaven who delivers us from the wrath to come.
The wrath to come clearly indicates that this is future and therefore not the present wrath that we are talking about tonight. And then when chapter five begins, the allusion is back to that wrath. And obviously the context shows that we’re talking about a future wrath.
But please understand the common thread between the kind of wrath that is concurrently revealed and the kind of wrath that will be revealed is that they both are expressed in time and not in eternity. Romans 1:18 and following is what is expressed right now. And we can look out at the world and we can see it. I mean, this is such a graphic description. If we can’t see that in our world, we really can’t see anything. It’s there.
But the wrath referred to in Romans 2:5 and in First Thessalonians 1:10 and in First Thessalonians 5 is the wrath to come. We don’t see that yet. And we won’t see it. Because we’ll be with Christ when it breaks. All right. That’s right. That’s right. That’s right.
And we may say that the world, because of its increasing depravity, deserves an increased measure of wrath. What we’ve seen now is not all that it deserves. And it is rapidly building toward the day when the fullest expression of God’s wrath will be revealed in all of the calamities that are described by the book of Revelation.
And that’s why in chapter two of Romans he talks about the man who treasures up for himself wrath in the day of wrath and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God through your hard and impenitent heart. He says you treasure up wrath in the day of wrath.
So here we are. Mankind is already under the wrath of God. Does he repent? No. Does he change his ways? No. What is he doing? He’s storing up more wrath, building up the wrath that will break on him during the Tribulation period. Exactly. Exactly.
Yes, sir. What came across my life? Well, I would love to say I had a vision. But I don’t think that would fly here in Coast Bible. And Arch might not invite me back. And then I would lose the hospitality. I would be under Arch’s wrath if I said that. So no vision.
Let me tell you how it happened, however, because I do have a very clear recollection of how it happened. I was wrestling with Romans 10:9 and 10. And I was a freshman in Wheaton at that time. And for some reason or other Romans 10:9 and 10 had not bothered me very much before then. But for some reason or other I was concerned about the meaning of Romans 10:9 and 10.
And as I thought about it and wrestled with it and prayed about it, and I definitely did pray about it. I remember realizing in Romans 10:9 and 10 that righteousness and salvation are distinguished there. We’ll come to that on Wednesday night, the same distinction between righteousness and salvation that we pointed out tonight. And then the book of Romans opened up to me kind of like a flower.
I went back to 5:9 and back to 1:16 and 17, and it was at that point that I realized that the distinction between righteousness and salvation was the key to understanding Romans. So that’s how it happened. And that was a long time ago. If you’re talking about my freshman year at Wheaton, you’re talking about near antiquity.
And the interesting thing is that as I’ve studied Romans in the years that have followed, the study has done nothing but confirm that particular insight. I had never heard that. I had never heard that distinction made. Never. To the very best of my knowledge I had never heard it anywhere or read it anywhere. And most of the things that I teach and preach I’ve heard somewhere or read somewhere.
We were talking at lunch today about a couple of things I’ve got in “Power to Make War”. I heard them or read them. And fortunately I know where I heard them or read them. But this, no. And I’ve always considered this an answer to my struggle with Romans 10:9 and 10, an insight which God is capable of giving to anybody who wants to dig into the Word and really wants to know it, and one that has confirmed itself repeatedly as I’ve come to a more mature appreciation of the argument of Romans. But that’s how it happened.
This is a distinction for which I would, I want to say, go to the stake. I think this is important enough that if they were lighting the fire, I would not recant. I believe this very firmly. Thank you. It’s been very interesting. We’ll start tomorrow night with Romans one through four. God willing.